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Topic: Newby Questions (Read 1647 times)

I finally took the plunge and bought a Rikon 70-100 lathe today to start turning pot calls and strikers. I’m planning to pick up a drill press, bandsaw and grinder soon. I know I have a long way to go with finding the right sound/design, but I’m excited nevertheless.

This site has been helpful in doing research for this but I have a few questions:

I will give ya what I have picked up in the last 3 years of turning calls.. first thing I would do if you have not already is to go onto tho calls and read everything you can about call making.. there are some really nice people that will help you out in anyway .. and if you have not ever turned on a lathe watch a lot of YouTube vids on getting started and start with a cheap set of tools maybe from harbor freight until you get the hang of sharpening them cause you will eat them up learning.. then get a good set of high speed steel .. lot of people use carbide tools I have some also but don’t use them often. As for a chuck I use a face plate with a screw chuck from psi .. the psi utility chuck is a pretty good buy for 89.00 but kinda a pain using the tommy bars tightening it..

Footballer,Like Brad_23 said, THO Game Calls Forum is a great place to start. Check out the tutorials section and then look through the turkey call tutorials. Make sure you take lots of measurments and document everything in the beginning as far as dimensions, wood species, sound board, surface etc. There are a ton of variables when making calls. Now to answer your questions...

1. I use Sorby lathe HSS chisels (the 5 piece set from amazon is $150). Keep in mind that if you go with HSS chisels you will have to have a way to sharpen them(grinder and wolverine jig) which is extra $$$ so most guys use carbide tools. If you go carbide, Easy wood tools has a beginner set on amazon.2. Start slow with your RPMs and just get comfortable turning. More RPM’s means a better finish when using your tools right but it’s a lot less forgiving if you get a catch. On that note... get a face mask as lathes can be dangerous.3. There are a ton of chucks out there. 4 jaw chucks and screw chucks are the most common. The 3” Screw chuck from PSI is what I started with and it works great. For a 4 jaw chuck the 90$ one from PSI is great. If money isn’t an issue the one way chucks are really nice. A lot of guys also use the PSI barracuda chuck.

As far as additional advise... a band saw is not crucial but a drill press should probably be your next purchase along with some decent forstner bits if you wanna make pot calls. Just my 2 cents but there are a lot of far more knowledgeable call makers on here than me. Hope this helps.

Footballer,Like Brad_23 said, THO Game Calls Forum is a great place to start. Check out the tutorials section and then look through the turkey call tutorials. Make sure you take lots of measurments and document everything in the beginning as far as dimensions, wood species, sound board, surface etc. There are a ton of variables when making calls. Now to answer your questions...

1. I use Sorby lathe HSS chisels (the 5 piece set from amazon is $150). Keep in mind that if you go with HSS chisels you will have to have a way to sharpen them(grinder and wolverine jig) which is extra $$$ so most guys use carbide tools. If you go carbide, Easy wood tools has a beginner set on amazon.2. Start slow with your RPMs and just get comfortable turning. More RPM’s means a better finish when using your tools right but it’s a lot less forgiving if you get a catch. On that note... get a face mask as lathes can be dangerous.3. There are a ton of chucks out there. 4 jaw chucks and screw chucks are the most common. The 3” Screw chuck from PSI is what I started with and it works great. For a 4 jaw chuck the 90$ one from PSI is great. If money isn’t an issue the one way chucks are really nice. A lot of guys also use the PSI barracuda chuck.

As far as additional advise... a band saw is not crucial but a drill press should probably be your next purchase along with some decent forstner bits if you wanna make pot calls. Just my 2 cents but there are a lot of far more knowledgeable call makers on here than me. Hope this helps.

Footballer,Like Brad_23 said, THO Game Calls Forum is a great place to start. Check out the tutorials section and then look through the turkey call tutorials. Make sure you take lots of measurments and document everything in the beginning as far as dimensions, wood species, sound board, surface etc. There are a ton of variables when making calls. Now to answer your questions...

1. I use Sorby lathe HSS chisels (the 5 piece set from amazon is $150). Keep in mind that if you go with HSS chisels you will have to have a way to sharpen them(grinder and wolverine jig) which is extra $$$ so most guys use carbide tools. If you go carbide, Easy wood tools has a beginner set on amazon.2. Start slow with your RPMs and just get comfortable turning. More RPM’s means a better finish when using your tools right but it’s a lot less forgiving if you get a catch. On that note... get a face mask as lathes can be dangerous.3. There are a ton of chucks out there. 4 jaw chucks and screw chucks are the most common. The 3” Screw chuck from PSI is what I started with and it works great. For a 4 jaw chuck the 90$ one from PSI is great. If money isn’t an issue the one way chucks are really nice. A lot of guys also use the PSI barracuda chuck.

As far as additional advise... a band saw is not crucial but a drill press should probably be your next purchase along with some decent forstner bits if you wanna make pot calls. Just my 2 cents but there are a lot of far more knowledgeable call makers on here than me. Hope this helps.

Footballer,Like Brad_23 said, THO Game Calls Forum is a great place to start. Check out the tutorials section and then look through the turkey call tutorials. Make sure you take lots of measurments and document everything in the beginning as far as dimensions, wood species, sound board, surface etc. There are a ton of variables when making calls. Now to answer your questions...

1. I use Sorby lathe HSS chisels (the 5 piece set from amazon is $150). Keep in mind that if you go with HSS chisels you will have to have a way to sharpen them(grinder and wolverine jig) which is extra $$$ so most guys use carbide tools. If you go carbide, Easy wood tools has a beginner set on amazon.2. Start slow with your RPMs and just get comfortable turning. More RPM’s means a better finish when using your tools right but it’s a lot less forgiving if you get a catch. On that note... get a face mask as lathes can be dangerous.3. There are a ton of chucks out there. 4 jaw chucks and screw chucks are the most common. The 3” Screw chuck from PSI is what I started with and it works great. For a 4 jaw chuck the 90$ one from PSI is great. If money isn’t an issue the one way chucks are really nice. A lot of guys also use the PSI barracuda chuck.

As far as additional advise... a band saw is not crucial but a drill press should probably be your next purchase along with some decent forstner bits if you wanna make pot calls. Just my 2 cents but there are a lot of far more knowledgeable call makers on here than me. Hope this helps.

Footballer,Like Brad_23 said, THO Game Calls Forum is a great place to start. Check out the tutorials section and then look through the turkey call tutorials. Make sure you take lots of measurments and document everything in the beginning as far as dimensions, wood species, sound board, surface etc. There are a ton of variables when making calls. Now to answer your questions...

1. I use Sorby lathe HSS chisels (the 5 piece set from amazon is $150). Keep in mind that if you go with HSS chisels you will have to have a way to sharpen them(grinder and wolverine jig) which is extra $$$ so most guys use carbide tools. If you go carbide, Easy wood tools has a beginner set on amazon.2. Start slow with your RPMs and just get comfortable turning. More RPM’s means a better finish when using your tools right but it’s a lot less forgiving if you get a catch. On that note... get a face mask as lathes can be dangerous.3. There are a ton of chucks out there. 4 jaw chucks and screw chucks are the most common. The 3” Screw chuck from PSI is what I started with and it works great. For a 4 jaw chuck the 90$ one from PSI is great. If money isn’t an issue the one way chucks are really nice. A lot of guys also use the PSI barracuda chuck.

As far as additional advise... a band saw is not crucial but a drill press should probably be your next purchase along with some decent forstner bits if you wanna make pot calls. Just my 2 cents but there are a lot of far more knowledgeable call makers on here than me. Hope this helps.

Alot of people like the barracuda. I have two utility chucks because I use two sets of jaws and it saves time to not have to change the jaws on the chuck

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That makes sense. So I’d probably be better off buying those two separately with the whole chuck?

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That's what I like. You may only use one set of jaws, it depends on how you plan to turn yours. I use two sets of jaws so having two chucks is alot quicker and easier. The utility chuck is $89. It dies require tightening with two hands vs one (key style like the barracuda) but I've had no problem using the tightening bars. For me the utility chuck works just fine.

That barracuda chuck is a great chuck. I personally use 2 PSI utility chucks to save time but if your gonna drop $160 on the barracuda it might be good to spend $200 and get the PSI barracuda with quick change jaws. The nova infinity with quick change jaws is nice too. They’re pricey but no more expensive than 2 utility chucks. Just my